Why are you not excited for the digital future?

PS Now to non Sony devices

Isn't this great news? In the future you won't be able to go 5 feet without seeing the PlayStation logo! Sony will be on everyone's phone, tablet, tv, computer, even on other gaming systems. Sony will be an all emcompassing force that will envelope the world.

If this all works out even the next Playstation will be a cloud service! Here you go for proof.

Sony Exec doesn't know if PS5 will be physical or cloud based

isn't this great? Sony will be the winner because they will be on every device known to man! There won't be any more console sales to worry about. No more billions spent on hardware development. No more Disc Read Errors, Yellow Lights of Death, or Pulsating blue lights of death. No more console wobbling, or cheap plastic cracking. No more hardware limitations! We won't have to hear about how the PS4 is already outdated a year after launch. Or how the cpu is the bottleneck in Unity.

Its a new world where the only limitations will be the developer's minds, and where we don't have to give our money to rackets like Gamestop for crappy preorder bonuses.

The future is almost here! Its going to be a glorious change and will finally signal the coming of the next evolution in gaming.

So how come no one is excited for this?

Because not everyone has Internet, not fast enough to download, and Physical Copy will always be around until the whole planet is connected to the Internet.

If PS5 is digital only, I won't buy it. It's the same reason I don't game on PC. I want physical games, not digital, and I'm not going to let company's tell me otherwise.

I don't buy digital games or movies unless they're literally like $0.99

It's good when it's working; I just have doubts they will have it properly working any time soon.

A lot of devs, even big ones, fail at making a functioning multiplayer portion, so why should I believe that cloud gaming by them will be working fine?

i like collecting physical copies of games

When Physical copies are a thing of the past, so is my gaming.

• big downloads
• slow internet speed
• sometimes lack of internet
• be forced to install the entire games
• HDD's have higher failure rate than discs
• discs last longer too
• failure of HDD means that I lose all my games and have to download them again
• got my PSN account hacked and Sony did not do shit. I lost all my digital games and a shit ton of money

**** the digital future. I'm going full pirate the moment that physical is no more.

I like physical copies. Games like Destiny remind me why, so I can trade them in.

Digital (PC) is good.

Though I will never play anything that is cloud based.

• There will be no game downloads
• Not Sony's fault if you have slow internet
• Not Sony's fault if you don't HAVE internet
• No game installs
• No HDD's to worry about its saved to the cloud
• Discs break down but the cloud is eternal
• No failure of HDDs means no games to have to download again
• Sony has improved their internet security now. Best part about the PS5 being cloud based means you won't lose those games.

You should be grateful for the digital future. These dark ages will be a nightmare compared to the smooth future Sony has planned for the world.

The fees

Lot of great points here.

Convenience fees. These fees will let you take your game from your computer, to your phone, to your PC at work, and from there back to your phone and to your home. You won't ever have to worry about someone taking your console, or getting shot in some shady console deal on craigslist, or resellers like gamestop ruining the gaming industry. You may call them a fee, but I call them the ticket cost to the future.

dafuq do you console gamers get up to?

hey us console gamers roll hard. See my signature? Its a selfie.

Sorry captain toad, I've seen the ending and it does not go well for you

you cant trade in, lend, borrow or sell DD and the cost as of right now doesn't justify going that way.

Because a digital system is very open to abuse (like microsoft and their drm crap last year) and knowing how gaming industry is actively looking for new ways to abuse the consumers, i can see it going bad pretty fast.

I will always support physical media and resist digital, especially cloud based, for as long as I have the option.

Points well made. i think people are getting digital purchases mixed up with cloud gaming/streaming or whatever you want to call it. If the infrastructure is secure enough, then i might consider migrating to this new idea... and yeah, i'l fairly sure people who can afford a £400 console can also afford a £22 a month satellite internet connection.

If Sony and MS really embraces DRM, I guess PS4 and Xbox One will be my last console from them and it will be just PC, Nintendo consoles, and there Handheld games is all I need from them.

Take a good look at PS4/Xbox One. Good because those consoles will be the last time that Physical games will be on those machines and Sony/MS is guaranteed on there next consoles will be all digital but at least Nintendo is not stupid to embrace this crap.

Poor.

As seen during the Xbox One reveal, people are not yet ready for a digital - only future. MS absorbed the blunt of the backlash that resulted from this endevour, and Sony took advantage of it and were painted as the saviors of the gaming industry. Because of this, I do not think that Sony will ever be able to speak of a digital-only future, since they clearly made a stance against it not too long ago.

Myself, I think digital is great, and is a lot more practical than physical but only because I never trade my games and I love the convenience of it, but it's not for everyone. So I think for now that having the choice between physical or digital is the best thing because there are a lot of supporters for physical out there, and their choices must be respected as well or companies risk alienating that segment of the market, which is pretty huge it seems.

Don't really trust Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony when it comes to digital. For PC I use Steam almost exclusively though. Digital is very convenient

Because Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have all historically been anticonsumer and having physical copies is the last bastion of fully accessible gaming on consoles.

Without proper competition like PC has, digital is a terrible future for games.

And what is Sony's specialty? They take someone elses idea, steal it, make a couple improvements to it and roll it out to the masses. Sony's take on Steam will probably be better than steam, and it will be for everybody. Like you said, Digital is very convenient, and Sony's take on it will be something extraordinary.

I can see good and bad sides. Good, most of what you listed. Bad, they can and will charge what the hell they want for games that cost them much less to make. Already digital is more expensive than physical. There is no cure for corporate greed. Also, I won't be able to see my digital games on my shelf. I will print out little screen shots of the games and put them on the shelf instead. Because I am a fuckwit.

You have to install all games to the hard drive even if you own the disk. A digital download can last forever, discs can be broke, stolen, and lost.

I wouldn't consider it as embracing DRM. Its more like Sony is guiding the experience. There will be no more worries about people cracking and hacking their consoles anymore. No worries about pirated games. No worries about wasting billions on hardware that is nothing but a weight dragging them down after a couple years. Sony wants to give us the best, and this route would be the best. Would there be restrictions? Yes. But there will be advantages. PlayStation on your phone? Its possible. PlayStation on your PC? Its possible. Taking the game from home, to work, and back to home without missing a beat? Its possible. You may consider it restrictive, but it gives you more freedom than any gamer has ever had before.

Or your Internet connection

Right now, going digital is working out great for me.... so far. I do have a few games on disc, but a large majority of them are digital.

Of the 100+ Wii U games I have, only 9 of them are on disc. I have 5 physical games on my 3DS and nearly 90 on digital. None of my Xbox One or PC games are on disc at all.

I'm not going to lie, I'm getting spoiled by digital games now. It's very convenient, my games go wherever my hardware goes (meaning my library is always with me), I never have to worry about my games being lost, stolen or damaged and for the most part, they are cheaper than retail.

The only headaches I foresee with this system is when hardware fails for me (as I'm sure it will somewhere down the line). So I regularly backup my games to external drives in case something goes wrong.

@JangoWuzHere: You don't have to install on the Wii U.

Because in a Digital Future there's a chance that we will get NO games.

We buy a game and decide well I need space on my hard drive to download another game, you delete the game.

OH BY THE WAY Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or Valve pulled that game from their services. Oh that's just fine I'll just redownload that game from my purchases....NEW TERMS AND POLICIES MAKE IT TO WHERE YOU CAN'T JUST REDOWNLOAD THAT GAME, crap so what do?

Nothing, that game is lost, forever, in red tape bull crap marketing.

These are true for many download titles.

Turtles in Time Reshelled, Marvel vs Capcom (now Origins) 2 and 3, Fable 3 on Steam, Donkey Kong Country...and that's just to name a few.

A Digital Future insures us that we will not have access to games that we payed for. It gives companies more power and us the consumers less.

see? This guy gets it. Now imagine even where your not restricted by your hardware anymore. Lets say your console dies out. You can pull out your phone and keep on gaming where your console game died. And when you get your hardware repaired or replaced you can hop back on it and keep on gaming. This is the future possible with PlayStation 5. Why would people consider this a bad thing?

I am a PC gamer and haven't built a machine with an optical drive in over three years. It's great.

The all-digital future is already here, it's just that consoles are behind as usual.

This speculatory fear mongering based on conjecture and a huge dislike of one of the console companies by the TC won't effect me. Funny thing too, console DD games are more expensive that physical console games. As far as the TC's conjecture (which is way too early as the gen just started) based on click bait from early and imo stupid articles and dumb PR speak by companies designed to sell current hardware? I'll take reality and the present time, after all, we all saw what happened at E3 2014 where Sony rejected Digital-only and forced M$ to 180 all their greedy DD anti consumer decisions. That was good for me as I was open to buy a launch Xbone and I did along with my launch Wii U and PS4.

I value the ability to freely trade/sell/collect/rent/lend/borrow physical console games.

It's pathetic, but physical console games besides being better for the consumer in the long term are also far cheaper. It's so sad how companies have SAVED $$$ MONEY eliminating printing paper, eliminating plastic cases, no shipping costs, no middle man retailer costs, no having to print a disc, cut down manufacturing costs, having the consumer deal with downloading and storing the game, and eliminating their worry about a potential future used games on the market for every DD game they sell (when the buyer is done with the game)...AND YET, the console DD games are more expensive!! Ha! It's foolhardy to support DD knowing that. Best Buy just did a Buy 2 get one free on all their new and used games including Wii U. Target just did the same B2G1F sale on their new games a month ago and every year. Gamestop/EB does it. Kmart, Sears, Costco, Amazon, they all do it. That's not to say console DD doesn't go on sale, but the physical sales are better and happen far often. Besides those amazing sales on physical console games, we saw many PHYSICAL retail titles from Wolfenstein ($14.99-$24.99) to Mario Kart 8 ($29.99) to Evil Within ($19.99-24.99) to Mario Kart 7 ($20) to Call of Duty ($40) to Diablo III $25 to GS GOTY Shadow of Mordor ($25) to Halo MCC ($40) to Lego Hobbit to Lego Marvel to Lego Batman 3 to The Last of Us Remastered to Assassin's Creed to Dragon Age: Inquisition to Super Smash Bros and pretty much all of the biggest games on sale (Physical console games at least). It happens every year like clockwork. These sales happen for a variety of reasons, but one is because OVERSTOCK. You have too many copies of a game? Reduce the price and create shelf space for the next games...across Hundreds of retailers! That means Walmart might have too many of game and Target may have too many of another. You get both on sale! This doesn't happen in the DD console world and you are forced to rely on whatever special deals the console dictates. No thank you.

I own four PCs and I know digital well. I don't like digital and DRM that comes with it, but to combat that every multiplat that releases on console. I'll take it. I'll lose some resolution and frames, but gain the ability to avoid DRM. My four gaming PCs are for exclusives AND reduced prices I find from time to time across various competing DD store fronts (Steam-GOG-Greenman-Origin-humble, etc). These store fronts DO NOT EXIST ON CONSOLE, and therefore CONSOLE DD games have less competition and stay at a higher price because there is only one store on that console and you can take it or leave it. Screw that. I should point out when I do accept buying a DD game on my PCs, they are literally pennies on the dollar. If steam, god forbid, went down, what happens to my library of hundreds of DD games? I have to hope they will relinquish it on the masses, but that's a scary thing to consider. I can sleep at night knowing I paid so little for the games at least. Luckily, PC as I have stated, as MANY DD store fronts, something consoles lack. I will not and have not EVER paid full price for a DD game. I want something really bad and it's digital only? I wait for a sale. Thankfully retailers sell physical copies of PC games so I'll always find a deal one way or the other. I'm too old-school and I've reasoned out all of this years ago. I've already explained this but every few years there are a bunch of new posters that demand the same answers once again.

When consoles go full scale DRM and decide to work together to force it, I'm sticking to my PCs (where there is a huge marketplace of DD games which drives DD prices down). I will ditch consoles which have a limited ecosystem (one console manufacture dictating prices instead of a free market). Also, I don't mean to offend, but this seems an obvious attempt by the TC justify the DD games the TC has been buying and supporting for his own Wii U. It was only yesterday I saw the TC mentioned he regretted buying an HDD for his Wii U. The reason that HDD Wii U thread is relevant is because the TC came to realize after the HDD purchase he found his HDD useless. A person who buys first (or jumps first and thinks later) and realizes after the avoidable mistakes they made are not the types of people I tend to trust to herald their fantasy vision of the future. Is digital the future? Sure, someday. Not today. I'm not saying Digital won't happen, it's obvious one day it will, but as a consumer I have a responsibility to vote with my dollars and take the best offering I have TODAY. It's not like we will have GOG, greenman gaming, humble, steam, origin, XBL, PSN, Nintendo, gamestop, best buy, walmart, target, and more all one console's digital store front driving prices down.

There is a huge, massive market worldwide of people that don't have the internet or don't have fast internet. The console companies that cater to this non-internet market stand to gain huge market share in the meantime. If Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo consoles went full digital, some other company would see a huge opportunity in bringing to the masses a non DD console. As far as DD games on console? Eventually the next console successor releases and boom, there is a great chance you lose the entire library of console DD games once the older console service goes down for the old machine. As a collector who can play the earliest games in my home all the way to current gen, supporting a future where I won't have access to my library a decade after the console releases? It's just awful and shortsighted to support such a vision. Of course companies want that, they stand to gain and get suckers to re-buy their games. Nintendo knows this. How many times have people bought the same Mario games on various platforms. Even looking at digital from Wii to Wii U...it's all shaky ground.

There is enough ammo I quoted below that saves me time.

Cloud gaming has been around for quite some time now. It's not like Sony's breaking new ground here. Remember Onlive? Wasn't really that great. There are lots of issues that you can run into here. Lag, freezing smearing of pictures will happen if your connection is anything below top of the line. Even assuming you have all the bandwidth of the world, what about security. Seems like a very tempting target for trolls to start broadcasting dick pics to the world instead of the game stream. Plus Sony's track record isn't that great. Also it means forgoing the last thing that defines your ownership of the console. Without that, the company owns you. They have the ultimate control over what you do. Seems scary.

This isn't fear mongering. This is genuine excitement for the first real evolution to gaming since Steam. This will take Steam and push it even further. Do you buy all your PC games on physical media? And all your console games? Because if you bought anything digital then you have to make the concession that at one point in the future you won't be able to access it. So what is the real issue? Its fear of change. The fear is on your end, and on the end of most of the gamers here, and its a shame. Real progress can't take place if we can't accept progress.

Consoles=closed platform=expensive games.

+ I prefer physical.

Yeah same. If a console is digital only, I'll go for another option. I know it's inevitable, but I'll hold off as long as possible.

Digital Future is fine by me. I don't have to worry about physical space or losing anything of value. If I lose a game I purchase, then I can always resort to pirating it...

"Cloud" and online gaming is being talked about by companies that can't even make good MMO's. If they all think they are going this route, most of them will get wiped out. Apart from the occasional inconvenience of internet problems (which haven't been an issue for me for at least a year), there is the simple fact you are forced to rely on companies that are completely unreliable. I don't really fancy spending 1000's of hours in a game only to have the company decide it's going to shut the game down.

Good news is that they will create a market for companies that DON'T pull this shit.

because if your internet is down, then you cant play the game....

Forgot to take your meds again ?

I was all about a physical collection until I had kids. Now pretty much all steam, d2d, and origin.

Is there a TL;DR to this Gettysburg Address? Its probably 'Moo I collect games I don't play!'

If you looked at my posts you'd realize that I love the digital stuff and I want more of it. I even suggested more ways to get more digital content on the Wii U eshop. If Nintendo went the route Sony is going and went all digital I wouldn't even have to worry about this. The entire library would be at my fingertips wherever I go and from any device. Nintendo is so far behind on this stuff though. Thank god Sony is considering it though.

DRM although if more companies were like GoG then I wouldn't have a problem.

@bunchanumbers: My major problem with Playstation Now as it stands, is that it is strictly a rental service. If I could simply pay for access like any other downloadable game, I might consider it for some titles.

As it stands, I'm still good with disks.